Residents of New Hampshire have traditionally believed that government operates best when it remains small, efficient and unobtrusive. The feeling in the Granite State has been that communities, neighborhoods and families can take care of their own problems with a healthy dose of common sense, sprinkled with courtesy.
Except when they can't.
And that moment comes when self-interest and the exercise of individual rights trumps selflessness and respect for one's neighbors. That moment comes when property values and equity trump maintaining the quaint rural charm of a community.
That time has come in the Town of Derry when, for the second time in less than a year, a feud has erupted over farm animals being kept on a small parcel of land in a residential neighborhood.
The latest case centers around the Cristallos family on Kilrea Road, who maintain a variety of animals on a relatively small parcel of land. Some of the Cristallos' neighbors have complained about noise from roosters, smells and various fowl that have escaped onto neighboring properties.
Unfortunately, the two sides have been unable to engage each other respectfully in order to work out an amicable solution. Not surprisingly, each side blames the other and sees no fault in their own actions.
As a result, the matter came before the town council and ultimately before the planning board, as another piece in the puzzle that will ultimately result in the town's first animal control ordinance. Derry has existed 289 years without such an ordinance because, until the past year, neighbors have been able to work out such matters among themselves.
The Kilrea Road dispute could have been solved with common sense. Farms, both large and small, are part of the history and charm of Derry, Londonderry and Chester. Farms can be, at times, noisy and are most certainly smelly. Those seeking to live in an antiseptic "bedroom suburb" should probably look elsewhere.
That said, anyone who owns animals has a responsibility to keep them under control and not let them roam through the neighborhood. If you cannot control your animals, you should not own them.
Limited government requires that citizens exercise common sense, restraint and selflessness. When residents abdicate that responsibility government, out of necessity, grows.
The Derry municipal government is about to grow with the addition of an animal control bylaw.
